Saturday, July 10, 1999 -- Parkersburg
Mid-Ohio Valley Triathlon
Story by Marty Lamp with photos by Lisa Selmon

[Coverage] [Pic Set 1] [Pic Set 2] [Pic Set 3]
[Overall Results] [Results by Class]

Melanie Leenhouts pedaling hard

Saturday morning in Parkersburg, you couldn't see the sun, but that was just fine with everyone lined up to start the Mid-Ohio Valley Triathlon. After weeks of gut-wrenching heat and humidity, the overcast weather and cool temperatures were a welcomed relief for the 30+ people ready to lay it all on the line in a race that combines running, biking, and kayaking.

The triathletes were ferried across the Ohio River to Blennerhassett Island along with all their gear for the 9am start. The race was broken down into two divisions, an advanced and a novice division, with male and female solo participants and male, female, and coed teams.

Keeping pace on Blennerhassett Island

The first leg of the race was the run. Runners circled the island on a 1 1/3 mile flat loop. Novice competitors ran around once, while the advanced class ran a little more than two. After the run, it was on to the bike where the same loop was used, but novice riders rode two laps, and advanced rode four.

Just when the sweat was really starting flow, it was time to get in the water, but the work was far from finished. All the racers from all the classes had to paddle back upstream for 2 miles on the Ohio River. Canoes, kayaks, and sit-on-tops were all used in this final leg.

The overall winner for the Men's Advanced solo class was Joe Wharton(59:52). Wharton took the lead in the run, stretched it out on the bike, and never looked back for the paddle section. Coming in second was Marty Lamp(1:01:42). Lamp was the sixth Men's Advanced solo racer in the water, but he relied on his paddling skills to pass four class competitors on the way to the finish. Joel Rodgers(1:02:09) rounded out the top three solo finishers.

Almost finished the 2 miles of flatwater

For the Advanced Women's solo class, it was Melanie Leenhouts(1:16:11) taking the first place honors, while Haynes Ralsten(1:30:51) finished second. Leenhouts and Ralsten finished 16th and 20th overall, respectively.

Team Confused(57:54) finished the course first overall and won the Advanced Men's team class, while Team Dynamic Duo(1:07:10) got the win for the Advanced Coed team class.

For the Novice Division, Mischa Dowler(43:12) led the way to the finish line, and Karen Jones(48:53) finished second for Women's solo class. Team Dauphin(55:23) finished first for Novice Male team class, and team Cardiac Crusaders(1:03:51) won the Novice Coed team class.

Thanks go out to Kim Clancy and Adventure Pursuit for making sure a fun time was had by all.